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COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA 

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 

HARRISBURG. 



ARBOR DAY and BIRD DAY 




THIS IS THE FOREST PRIMEVAL. 

OCTOBER 2j, 1922 

The Birthday of Theodore Roosevelt 



r 



St]3- 



"library of congri^ 

RECEIVED 



B. Suggested Program for Friday, October 27, 1922. 

The topics listed below, numbers two to ten inclusive, on each of which an article has been 
prepared by a noted authority and printed herein, suggest themes for short talks by pupils 
before an assembly in the school room or auditorium. Ask the children, the patrons, and the 
visitors to supplement each topic. Discuss thoroughly the application of the topic to local 
conditions and draw as many helpful lessons as possible from each subject. 

For the tree planting as suggested in number eleven, the school should proceed to the place 
where the planting is to be made. A young tree, a large number of seedling trees, or local 
native shrubs and flowers should then be planted. Preparations for this event should be made 
during the preceding week by having discussions as to how, what, and where to plant, and by 
assembling the proper materials for the planting operation. 



ARBOR DAY, BIRD DAY, AND ROOSEVELT DAY PROGRAM 

1. Appropriate songs. 

2. Governor Sproul's Arbor Day Proclamation. 

3. Letter to the school children of Pennsylvania from Dr. Finegan, Superintendent of 

Public Instruction. 

4. Gifford Pinchot's letter to the school children of Pennsylvania. 

5. "Wild Life in Pennsylvania". 

6. "Charles A. Babcock— Founder of Bird Day". 

7. "Pennsylvania's Wild Flowers and Shrubs". 

8. "Conservation of Pennsylvania's Forests". 

9. "Pennsylvania's Water Power". 

10. "The Conservation of Pennsylvania Soils". 

11. Planting of native trees, shrubs, or flowers on or near the school grounds. 

12. Song, "America". 

C. Exhibits of Pupils' Work. 

1. Posters announcing the school program for Arbor Day, Bird Day, and Roosevelt Day. 

2. Bird feeding shelves made by children, to be erected for feeding birds this winter. 

3. Collections of specimens of native trees, including leaves, bark, vertical sections 

and cross sections. 

4. Drawings, color studies, and paper cuttings of birds, trees, and land-scapes. 

5. Decorations of appropriate kinds, such as leaves, evergreen boughs, and autumn 

foliage. 



43 




44 



COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA 
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 



STATE COUNCIL OF EDUCATION 

President and Executive Officer 
THOMAS E. FTNEGAN 

Term expires 

HOMER D. WILLIAMS, M. S Pittsburgh, Pa. July 1, 1927 

MORRIS L. CLOTHIER, LL. D. Philadelphia, Pa. July 1, 1926 

MRS. E. S. H. McCAULEY, Beaver, Pa. July 1, 1926 

MRS. H. S. PRENTISS NICHOLS Philadelphia, Pa. July 1, 192.S 

EDGAR FAHS SMITH, M. D., So. D., Ph. D., LL. D., L H. I).. Chein. D.. . Philadelphia, Pa. July 1, 1928 

HON. E. S. TEMPLETON, Greenville, Pa. July 1, 1928 

HON. MARCUS AARON, Pittsburgh, Pa. July 1, 1924 

ERNEST LAPLACE, M. D., LL. D. ■ • Philadelphia. Pa. July 1. 1Q25 



THOMAS E. FINEGAN, M. A., Pd. D., Litt. D., L. H. D., LL. U. Superintendent of Public Instruction 

J. GEORGE BECHT, M. A., Sc.D., LL.D Deputy Superintendent Higher Education 

WILLIAM D. LEWIS, M. A., Pd.D., Litt.D. Deputy Superintendent Secondary Education 

ALBERT M. JOHNSON, B. A., Assistant to Superintendent (School Law) 

Helen J. Ostrander, Secretary to Superintendent 

DIRECTORS OF BUREAUS 

Administration, Francis B. Haas, B. S., M. A. Rural Education, ■• Lee L. Driver, M. A., LL- U 

Attendance W. M. Denison, M. A. School Buildings, ..HuBert Clark Eicher, M. S 

Health Education Charles H. Keene, M. D. School Employes' Retirement, H. H. Baish, M. A 

Pre-Professional and Professional Credentials. .. Special Education, F. N. Ma.xfield, Ph. D 

Chas. D. Koch. M.A.. Pd.D., Litt.D. Teacher, Albert L. Rovi^land, M. A., Ph. D 

Vocational, L. H. Dennis, B S 

DIRECTORS OF SUBJECTS 

Art Education, C. Valentine Kirby, M.A 

Commercial Education Vacmncy 

English, Orton Lowe, B.S 

Foreign Languages, G. C. L. Riemer, M.A., Ph.D 

Geography, Erna Grassmuck, B.S. in Ed 

Inspection of High Schools, James G. Pentz, B.A., M.A 

Junior High Schools, James M. Glass, B.A., M.A 

Mathematics, J. A. Foberg, B.S 

Music Hollis Dann, Mus.D 

School Libraries Adeline B. Zachert 

Science, James N. Rule, B.S., M.S. 

Social Studies J. Lynn Barnard, B.S., Ph.D 

Speech Improvement. Helen M. Peppard. B.A 




HONORABLE WILLIAM C. SPROUL 
Governor 



IN THE NAME AND BY AUTHORITY OF THE 

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA 

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT 
HARRISBURG 




Proclamation 



Whereas, God, in His goodness, has bestowed upon our State of Pennsylvania the beautiful wooded 
mountains and fertile valleys threaded with their life-giving streams, and has likewise given us a great 
wealth of mineral deposits and abundant stores of indispensable timber, a heritage which has enabled 
this Commonwealth to develop into a great agricultural and industrial empire, with profitable employ- 
ment to great numbers of our people who are producers in our mines, mills, and factories, and upon 
our farms from which come such quantities of food products that we rank among the first farming states 
in the Union; and 

Whereas, For many years these great advantages were not fully appreciated by the people of our 
State and our natural resources were not well conserved, and we have not only drawn heavily and with- 
out discrimmination upon our forests but we have permitted the pollution of the streams, the depletion 
by waste and erosion of our fruitful hill-sides, and allowed wanton destruction of the birds, the fish, the 
game, and the wild flowers, which contributes so much to the comfort and enjoyment of our people; 
and 

Whereas, Far-sighted citizens, realizing the need of correcting these unsound practices and condi- 
tions, years ago initiated a program to preserve for future generations the wealth of nature in this God- 
favored area, and produced wise legislation looking toward the preservation of the forests, the saving of 
the streams pure and clean, the protection of the wild life and the preservation of healthful conditions for 
our workers, and especially for the women and children, in order that we may have a stronger and better 
manhood and womanhood, surrounded by wholesome conditions, which will save for future generations 
the blessings with which we have been endowed; and 

Whereas, It is especially desirable that the boys and girls of Pennsylvania — the great army of two 
million school children upon whom the responsibility wUl soon fall for the management of the State's 
resources and the conservation of its future — should be encouraged to study and become interested in 
this work which has been so well started and which we have endeavored to carry on, that it may be 
amplified and developed for the benefit of all of the people in the future: 

Now, therefore, I, William Cameron Sproul, Governor of Pennsylvania, do hereby appoint and desig- 
nate Friday, October 27, 1922, the birthday of Theodore Roosevelt, to be observed as the Autumn Arbor 
Day and Bird Day in Pennsylvania, and I do commend to all of our people, and especially to the school 
children of the State, the pioper observance of this day in educational and practical efforts looking to- 
ward the acquisition of knowledge regarding the tree life and wild life of the State, and particularly in 
the planting of trees and in the protection and cultivation of the forests and birds which bless us with 
their useful and grateful presence. 

GIVEN under my hand and the Great Seal of the 
State, at the City of Harrisburg, this fourth 
day of October, in the year of our Lord 
one thousand nine hundred and twenty-two, 
and of the Commonwealth the one hundred 
[SEALl gjjj forty-seventh. 



By the Governor: 

BERNARD J. MYERS, 
Secretary of the Commonwealth 



/^- -«'• t^^X^-K-^ 



COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA 

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 

HARRI5BURG 

October 27, 1922. 

To The School Children of Pennsylvania : 

I extend to you a most cordial greeting upon your return to the school room this autumn. 
What a joy it would be to ,see every one of the one million seven hundred thousand boys and 
i^irls of Pennsylvania at vi^ork with their books in the schoolroom ! Since this is impossible 
I am availing myself of the privilege of addressing you through this letter. 

The Honorable William C. Sproul, Governor of our Commonwealth, has issued a proclama 
lion requiring the observance of Friday, October 27 — the birthday of Theodore Roosevelt — as 
Vrbor Day and Bird Day in Pennsylvania. I am requesting you, therefore, to join us in pay- 
ing proper tribute to the memory of one of America's most eminent citizens. Let us all — boys 
and girls, fathers and mothers — express our appreciation of the services rendered to the 
American people by this great man. 

Theodore Roosevelt was a man who believed in hard work, a square deal, in education as 
a birthright, and in productive labor for all. Whether he was boxing, playing tennis, riding 
horseback, leading his men in battle, hunting big game, writing his great messages to Congress, 
or speaking to the thousands who loved his straightforward, honest messages, Theodore 
Roosevelt always did the task at hand with every ounce of strength he had. He loved the 
out-of-doors, the flowers, the birds, and the animals, but above all he loved boys and girls. 
You will take great delight in reading his books and in learning more about the wonderful 
life he lived. 

In his proclamation, our Governor has emphasized a great national interest that was dear 
to Roosevelt — the conservation of the natural resources in plant and animal life. We are not 
good citizens unless we leave for the generations that are to follow a more valuable inheritance 
than was left to us. We are not good sportsmen unless we leave for the men and women of 
tomorrow better opportunities for recreation, more game in our mountains, and more fish in 
our streams than were left to us. 

Do you know that Pennsylvania is one of the few states in the Union that has never 
adopted a State flower? I want you, the school children of Pennsylvania, to help us select a 
State flower. Next spring, when the flowers begin to bloom, I should like to have you make 
a careful study of the wild flowers of your community. Learn to know them and learn to love 
them. I am going to ask you, on the Spring Arbor Day of 1923, to decide by your votes which 
of the native flowers of Pennsylvania you desire designated as our State Flower. 

I congratulate you on the splendid opportunities which a generous citizenship in Penn- 
sylvania has provided for your welfare, for your growth, and for your happiness. I trust 
that you will use wisely and well the days of your childhood so that you may develop right 
ideals, and the ability to think clearly and to act with intelligence and decision. The world 
needs men and women of force and action. Study hard, play hard, and give your best service 
always. Your sincere friend, 



^«-^-< 





Theodore Roosevelt was a practical forester. 




GIFFORD PINCHOT. 



Theodore Roosevelt 

By 

GIFFORD PINCHOT 

Former National Commissioner of Forestry 
and late Commissioner of Forestry, Pennsylvania. 

Theodore Roosevelt was an outdoor man. He knew the mountains, the forests, the plains, 
and the streams. He understood what they meant to the people of America now and here- 
after because he never was in the open without using his eyes. What he looked at he saw, 
and what he saw he thought about, so that his mind was ready to understand and adopt the 
policy of the conservation of natural resources the moment it was brought to his attention. 

The conservation policy means the use of the earth and its re.sources for the greatest 
good of the greatest number for the longest time. We who are alive today have the right to 
use all the natural resources that are necc'^sary for our safety, comfort, and happiness, but we 
have no right to destroy more than we can use, nor to prevent the new growth of the renew- 
able resourcas by destructive methods of use. 

Thus we have no right to destroy the forest, which is a renewable resource, when we 
harvest the timber crop. On the contrary, we are under the most solemn obligation to cut 
our trees in such a way that new trees will grow so that land of little use for other purposes 
will keep on producing trees. That is one of the essential ideas of conservation. 

What Colonel Roosevelt did with respect to conservation has made this Nation his debtor 
so long as streams run and forests grow. Not only did he accept the conservation policy, but 
he preached it all over the United States. He preached it just as vigorously where there was 
opposition as where the people were all friendly. He was never afraid to tell what he thought, 
and it was because of his fearless backing of the conservation policy that it made such won- 
derful progress during the years he was President. 

Very often the opposition to conservation in Congress and in many of the States of the 
West was so bitter that almost any other President would have been induced to speak less 
clearly for fear of making enemies. Not so Colonel Roosevelt. He told the truth as he saw 
it no matter whether those in high places liked it or not, and the result in this case was to 
make the rank and file of the American people believe as he did, that conservation is absolutely 
necessary for the welfare of America in this generation and in all the generations to come. 

Colonel Roosevelt never spared himself when there was good to be done. No man in 
America ever had greater power. Pie used it to make this country a better land in which 
bovs and girls and men and women might live. No matter what it cost him, he stood for 
what was right. 

He will be remembered longest for his part in conservation, a great and lasting policy 
in which the American people has come to have abiding faith. It is his greatest monument. 

Pennsylvania needs conservation as much as any other State. We must save and renew 
our forests, protect and develop our streams, and make this wonderful Commonwealth of 
ours even richer and more beautiful than it is. 

Pennsylvania will not die with us. Those who come after us have rights which we 
must respect. 

GIFFORD PINCHOT. 




"Martha", The last passenger pigeon known to science died in the 
Zoological Garden in Cincinnati, September, 1913. 



10 



WILD LIFE IN PENNSYLVANIA 

By 

Colonel Henry W. Shoemaker 

At the time of William Penn's first appearance on the Delaware there was probably no 
part of the world, Africa included, where nature had been more laA'ish with wild animals, 
bird and fish life than Pennsylvania. In a letter to a friend in England he spoke enthusias- 
tically of the bounteous supply of game, for food and furs, and the fish "as a cheap and plentiful 
food supply for the common people." 

In those days, so Watson's Annals of Philadelphia tell us, deer and bears, and even 
panthers, were killed in what is now Philadelphia and Germantown. The wild pigeons which 
flew by the millions were likened bj'- the early settlers to the quails mentioned in the Bible, 
and helped to tide them over several severe winters when the crops had been poor. Fur buying 
and trapping were soon established on a large scale in the province, and there is a description 
extant by a French traveller of the long rows of sheds at Harris' Ferry, later Louisburg 
and now Harrisburg, jammed full of bison hides. 




(Courtesy Pennsylvatiia State Game Coiinnission) 

Deer become tame when protected. This group was photographed 
in the Kalbfus Game Preserve. 

In the early days the buffaloes or bison, migrated between the Great Lakes and Georgia, 
crossing the Susquehanna River at Haldeman's Island, near Clark's Ferry Bridge, that huge 
covered structure built by Theodore Burr and so charmingly described by Charles Dickens 
in his "American Notes." In Brooks' "Annals of Harrisburg" the killing of a buffalo within 
the limits of that city in 1792 is recorded. The last herd was wiped out in Snyder County in 
1799. A bison was killed by Theodore Stamm in Northumberland County in 1810. That is 
not the latest eastern record, as one was .shot on Tygart River, West Virginia, in 1825. The 
moose which came to Pennsylvania from the North during exceptionally severe winters were 
exterminated about the same time. As late as the middle of the last century elk were found 
in some of the northern counties of the State. The beaver existed in a wild state, and the 
wolf, the panther, and the Canada lynx were met with, as were the fisher fox, pine marten 
and wolverine. 



11 



Today all of these interesting forms of wild life are gone, and are we any better off for 
their passing? Dogs kill more sheep in one year than the wolves ever killed, and the small 
amount of game destroyed cannot be weighed against the thrill and charm of their existence 
in our forests. Twenty years ago the deer were all but extinct, yet half a century ago 
professional hunters thought nothing of killing a hundred in a season for the New York and 
Philadelphia markets. There were two varietie,'^, the northern and the southern forms of the 
Virginia deer. Most of the big northern type are gone, but the southern type have interbred 
with western and southern deer introduced by the State Game Commission, and now deer 
hunting is again a popular sport in our mountains. The red and grey fox are present in 
diminishing numbers, squirrels are scarce, including the black squirrel and the picturesque 
flying squirrel. The 'coon, the 'possum and the groundhog are still with us, affording much 
sport for the average man. The black bear seems to be holding his own, and is our noblest 
game animal — thanks to Governor Sproul's watchful interest. 

Our older people love to tell of the flighti-> of the wild pigeons on their migrations north 
in the spring, south in the fall, in untold millions which "darkened the sun." They were 
unmercifully harassed at their breeding grounds in the northern counties, the old birds were 
netted, and the trees cut down for the squabs. No wonder they decreased, yet their total 
disappearance is the greatest of avian mysteries. In 1878 a feeble law was passed to protect 
them, but it came too late. They remained in the Commonwealth only a few years longer. 
Their last nesting was along what is now the wonderful Cherry Springs Drive, in Potter 
County. 

Where did the wild pigeons go when they migrated southward in the fall? They did 
not winter in the southern states. In very mild winters, however, a few remained and oc- 
casionally wild pigeon,=; were found about Philadelphia and Chester. The great flocks of 
miUions of birds crossed the Gulf of Mexico, spring and fall. Where did they go? Are they 
waiting for some more propitious time to revisit Pennsylvania from some hidden jungles in 
South America or Africa? 

The heathcock, the eastern form of the prairie hen, was exterminated in Pennsylvania 
before it was ever mentioned in our game laws, as was the beautiful Carolina parrakeet. 
The ruffed grouse or "pheasant" and the quail are still residents of our State. 

The golden eagle is occasionally seen in Pennsylvania, but was always rarer than the 
bald eagle, the American eagle, or "Bird of Freedom," which regularly bred here, especially 
along the Susquehanna River. It was said to have been an in-^piring and thrilling sight to 
see these noble birds soaring over the waters as they foamed and frothed over the sagged 
rocks of the "Big River" about Marietta, Bainbridge, and AVrightsville. Thoughtless hunters 
laid them low, and the bald eagle on the North and AVest branches of the Susquehanna River 
is today but a memory. 

All of the smaller so-called birds of prey, hawks, and owls, so useful to the farmer are 
becoming scarce in Pennsjdvania. They are easily shot and become ready targets for un- 
scrupulous gunners. The raven is almost a thing of the past, due to the commercial value 
of the eggs for collectors. The nests have been cruelh^ and persistently rifled so long that the 
old birds have become discouraged and have left for less unfriendh^ climates. In 3'ears gone 
by hunters when thej^ shot a deer and lost it, located its carcass by the circling of ravens. The 
turkey vulture, miscalled "buzzard", still soars above some of our mountains, and is a 
picturesque feature of our scenery, replacing to some extent the majestic but vanished eagles. 

Cranes and herons, bitterns and kingfishers, which once added so much to the harmony 



12 



of nature along our dead waters and ponds, have been killed by gunners who imagined they 
destroyed fish, whereas they were mostly busied hunting enemies of the fish and their spawn, 
such as frogs, lizzards, crayfish and water snakes which they devour voraciously. One of the 
last heronries in the State near Falmouth, Lancaster County, was recently visited by members 
of the Natural History Society of Harrisburg. These water birds have been described as the 
"poJice force" of our streams. 

There is still a fair number of smaller woodpeckers and sapsuckers, but the musical 
hammering of the pileated woodpecker or log cock is now rarely heard. Wild ducks, wild 
geese and swans still appear on our rivers, and according to some are increasing in numbers. 

Thanks to the continued efforts of Bird Clubs. Audubon Societies, Conservation Leagues 
and similar organizations, our song birds are fairlj^ well protected by law and public sentiment 
in Pennsylvania. What would our woods, gardens and orchards be without our cheerful 
songsters, robins, wrens, flickers, peewees, redbirds, wood thrushes, thra.shcrs and orioles? 
We cannot be too watchful that they are carefully gaiarded against cats, snares, poisons, and 
other enemies. 

William Penn wr.s filled with enthusiasm o^•er the \'ahie of the Pennsylvania fisheries. 
In those days the seals followed the shad into the estuaries of the Delaware and Susquehanna 
Rivers, and shad fisheries were profitable investments almost to the headwaters of the Dela- 
ware, the Susquehanna, the Juniata and the Karoondinha, now called Penn's Creek. It is 
stated that shad even penetrated into the beautiful Penn's Cave, which is the headwaters 
of the Karoondinha. 

The building of dams, and pollution by industrial plants have made the shad but a 
memory in the inland waters of Penns3dvania. As late as 1903, however, a retired Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad employee sold shad at Clark's Ferry Station, only ten miles above Harrisburg. 

The old-fashioned, highly colored, gamey, native brook trout is only found in some of 
the wilder mountain streams of the State. Once they were so plentiful that the early fishermen 
caught baskets full with their hands. There was no "limit" in those days. Potter County 
newspapers tell how Martin E. Olmstead, then a young man, caught five hundred trout in a 
single day with hook and line. The introduction of western trout has pretty well destroyed 
the old native variety, but trout fishing today is a popular and delightful recreation. Catfish, 
suckers, sunfish and eels also abound, and afford sport for old and young alike. 

The fishing industry on Lake Erie is of considerable importance, and "White fish" are 
popular all over the State. Land and snapping turtles are also found in Pennsylvania. 

The search for bee trees is still a fascinating pursuit in the forests of northern Penn- 
sylvania. John H. Chatham, aged CUnton County naturalist, says that the finst bees brought 
in by the colonists were black, with a single white spot on their backs, and known as "Dutch 
bees." Their presence in the woods was a warning to the Indians that white settlements 
were near at hand. In the Black Forest in Clinton County, in 1876, Mr. Chatham says he 
saw where some one to "line" a bee had cut down a wide swath of original white pine trees 
for half a mile over a ridge — trees that today would be worth thousands of dollars. Those 
were reckless days when timber and wild life seemed inexhaustible, and no one cared. Our 
younger generations have lost much of the joy of 'ife by the absence of these old forests, 
birds, animals, and fish. 

Much game was exterminated by the early hunters and professional game butchers, but 
the forest fires by destroying the "cover" wiped out more wild life than all the hunters. A 
more sensible day is at hand. The forest fires are being fought with all the stubborn energy 



14 



of the State Forestry Department, the Llo}' Scouts and ci\ic uri^anizatinns. The State Game 
Commission and sportsmen's organizations are using ever\- elTdrt td con-erxe nur game supply 
and certainly the deer and bears are increasing. The fishermen's licence law means increased 
fish propagation, but it is the responsibility of the citizens as a whole to legislate the pollution 
of streams out of existence. It would not be tolerated in any European country. "Ce n'est 
pas egalite" (it is not equality) the French would say and banish it oxernight. The refuse 
from mines and tanneries can be turned into valuable by-products, so that no one will be 
the loser. 




(Courtesy Pennsylvania State Game Contm-isi^ion 

A twenty-six pound wild cat caught in the Sproul State Forest, 
Clinton County, Pennsylvania. 



We need forests and game and fish to keep alive the spirit of our pioneer forefathers, 
the heroic men and women who were the bone and sinew of Pennsylvania. It is in the hands 
of the younger generations, the school boys and school girls, by Arbor DayvS and Bird Days 
and by sincere individual effort, to save Pennsylvania Beautiful. We can again have the 
hunter's paradise as described by William Penn, if every boy and girl who reads these lines 
will become a devotee of conservation, and save for the boy^s and girls to come some aspect of 
the wilderness — the Penn's Woods which we see in our dreams, and which all that is best 
in us instinctively loves! Let us help to re-create the tall forests, the teeming animal and 
bird life, the pure waters! But above all, let us exert ourselves. to the utmost to check the 
most destructive enemy of the wild life of Pennsylvania — the Forest Fire! 



15 




The jack-in-the-pulpit is one of Pennsylvania's flower treasures. 

16 : 



PENNSYLVANIA'S WILD FLOWERS AND SHRUBS 

By J. Horace MacFarland 

President of the American Civic Association and 
Editor of the American Rose Annual 

Not only is Pennsylvania remarkable for her yet unappreciated scenery of river and 
valley, of mountain pass or "gap," plain and forest scenery, which ought to make every citizen 
proud of residence in the Keystone State, but as vi'ell for the richness and extent of her 
natural flower and shrub adornments, her "flora," as the scientist states. 

Within the borders of the state more than two thousand plants are native, or "wild," 
though for more than one thoughtless generation we have been doing all we know how to 
exterminate the finer and more beautiful, leaving only the less conspicuous, the more rugged 
and enduring things, not infrequently classed as "weeds" or "briars.'' 

Curiously enough, when we think of planting flowers and shrubs about our homes or 
our schools, we try almost always to get something foreign to the state, rather than to use 
our own treasures, valued elsewhere. About the home we set the Norway maple and the 
Norway spruce, both from Europe, and the horsechcstnut from Greece. On the lawn=; we 
plant lilacs from Bulgaria, spireas and hydrangeas from Japan and China. In the garden 
are geraniums and coleus, .salvia and heliotrope, and a score of other European and Asiatic 
immigrants. Even our usual roses are of the blood of India and Japan, hybridized in England 
and France! 

In Pennsylvania we should have, of course, the best from all lands, of plants as well as 
of people, but we need surely also to know and to have about us at home, in the park*;, and 
espicially near the schools, our own treasures of tree and shrub and plant — treasures that 
have excited the admiration and the envy of plant lovers evcrxwhcre. 

With a wealth of great oaks, why not surround the school buildings with them — the 
white, pin, scarlet, rock and other splendid and enduring trees that made "Penn's Woods" 
famous? Our hard or "sugar" maple is the most beautiful of all that family. We can have 
the superb tulip tree or liriodendron, not a tulip-poplar, if you please ! Our lindens and 
ashes, our birches and our beeches, are notable, and no evergreens excel in beautiful quality 
our white pines, our spruces and our hemlocks. 

Let w^ stay at home for the fine hydrangeas that are of Penns\'lvania, the "Hills of Snow," 
and the rarer oak-leaved sort. We have the lovely marsh mallows and their descendants. 
In England the American laurel or kalmia is as highly est-eemed as it is here stupidly dis- 
regarded, and our great rhododendrons have long been valued by those who have ravished 
them from our woods and hills to adorn their private estates. 

So a first essential to the plant surroundings of a Pennsylvania school ought to be an 
investigation of local and native plant resources. P)y reason of the variation in elevation 
from tide-water to 3,600 feet, and through the po'^session in its make-up of varied soils, the 
plant wealth of the Keystone State is so distributed that the natural roadside beauty in one 
section dififers completely from that in another. 

It is thus easily possible that a most beautiful and infh\'idiiril planting of tree'; and shrubs, 
all hardy and relatively permanent, misjht distinsruish every city, suburban and rural school 
building in Pennsylvania, using only plant material native to the state. Such planting would 

17 




1— J J_> 



IP 



also, if properly undertaken, acquaint the pupils of the schools with the plant resources of 
their own commonwealth, and upbuild their knowledge and love in that fashion which most 
promotes true patriotism. 

Nature herself, as she has worked in beautiful Pennsylvania, provides us with the best 
planting plans for the patriotic and educational work I have .suggested. If the school planting 
is to be truly satisfactory, it must look as if it had naturally come about, and not as if a 
French barber had exercised all his arts on a xirile woodsman fresh from the forest. 

As I write, I am looking at a gardener's outrage that has been committed in a lovely 
open forest near a summer hotel. The beeches, birches, maples and hemlocks that rise from 
a lawn that is like a wooded meadow frame a charming picture of a nearby lake. Thrust 
into the middle distance is a "bed" of salvia and white-leaved centaurea that has been irrever- 
ently called a "cranberry pie" by one annoyed guest, and likened by another to a blot of red 
ink purposely spilled on the front of a dress shirt. The outrage is extended by certain painted 
tubs of geraniums set on beautiful weathered rocks along the path! Thi.s, too, in a climate 
and location that causes to flourish remarkably the laurel and the rhododendron, and is right 
now providing a marvelous show of color in the leaf-surrounded scarlet berries of the moun- 
tain ash and the winter-berry, while nearby the pink cluster of the withe-rod are a delip-ht. 

When the planting for the school is being thought out, the idea i.s to consider the most 
pleasing unspoiled roadside or forest edging in the vicinity. This will be varied in its items, 
and bv no means in geometrical order. 

The first error to avoid, then, is that committed too often in the restricted home lawn, 
chief!}' desecrated by a Colorado blue spruce in the exact center, or two of them symmetrically 
placed if the tree-agent is a good salesman, — bounded b}'' other exotic shrubs set at regular 
distances and punctuated by "beds" of whatever is deemed expensiveh^ ornamental. It has 
bee:, found possible to accentuate this planting crime by surrounding the beds or the walks 
with bricks on edge, or with oyster shells, or with carefully white washed stones. The ex- 
treme of this kind of ugliness can be attained by either whitewashing all nearby tree trunks, 
or by forming a "bed" like a flag, or an anchor, or something else that "never was on land 
or sea!" 

Going a half mile along a mountain road, I find in sight a planting so lovely and so 
tasteful that it at first seems like the open edge of the forest. The building is brown in tone, 
and it is tied to the earth by the huckleberries, laurels, rhododendrons, hemlocks and other 
varied shrubs of the neighborhood. This "foundation planting,'' as it is called, is sufficiently 
out from the walls to provide passage and air. There are some flowering shrubs, but the 
decorative dependence is the native evers'reen hemlock, laurel and rhododendron. 

The lawn is unspotted and unspoiled by anything but grass, and consequently gives an 
air of extent and repose. At each side of the property is a long border of rich ground, in 
which flourish the hardy perennials and the summer-blooming bulbs that provide a continuous 
show of flowers, varied from day to day. 

At the front, which is above the roadway, the bank has wild roses trailing upon it, with 
some American-bred hardy climbers, particularly the lovely and robust "American Pillar," 
to add a body of bloom and foliage. 

Have I made plain an ideal for the use of Pennsylvania's wealth of plant life about Penn- 
sylvania's now mostly unplanted schoolhouses? Can we not use mostly our own flower 
treasures? Think of a mountain schoolhouse surrounded by our oaks, beeches, ashes, maples, 
with a touch of pine and hemlock; think of irregular borders showing our wild phloxes and 

19 




Indian pipe, pine-sap, and ferns 
20 



hepaticas and bloodroots and trilliums in earliest spring, and continuing through with brilliant 
bergamot, snowy white hydrangea, dainty wood lilies, blue closed gentian, white snakeroot 
and scores of other lovely things; consider that there will be not only laurels and rhododen- 
drons to bloom gloriously, but that their evergreen foliage will be beautiful when snow 
comes; note that the making of this planting will be full of lessons in biology, in living 
botany, in plant relations, in soil economics, and in true love of a country whose rocks and 
rills, whose templed hills, are thus reverently memorialized! Isn't the picture worth painting 
in plants and trees, and won't it be more pleasing even to the dullest school director than the 
usual barren desolation we now possess? 

A lowland school, a suburban school, and certainly a city school — for cities are yet in 
the country — could be pictured, each surrounded with the plants and vines, the trees and 
shrubs of the neighborhood. With a devoted leader to so organize, this "local color" planting 
could be done largely by the pupils, and at far less expense than is usually incurred to produce 
a chromo garden effect, purely imitative and exotic. 

Can we have the plants of Pennsylvania about the schools of Pennsylvania? Why not? 




ENTRANCE TO CHILDS' FOREST PARK, DELAWARE STATE FOREST, 

PIKE COUNTY, PA. 

Play and rest places are being prepared on the State forests for you 

and those who come after you. 



21 




22 




Every child should learn how to gather wild flowers without 
destro5nng them. 

23 



CONSERVATION OF PENNSYLVANIA'S FORESTS 

R. Y. Stuart 

Commissioner of Forestry 
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 

A continuous supply of good forest products is necessary for our safety and prosperity 
in peace and in war. That such a supply will not be available in the future is now certain 
unless corrective measures are applied to the handling of forest land. Even a casual survey 
of the present timber situation will convince anyone that forest depletion has reached a 
critical stage. 

The conservation movement is an efifort to use the natural sources of the earth, whether 
they be forest, coal, or ore, for the greatest good of the greatest number for the longest time. 
There has been a fundamental misconception that conservation means nothing but the 
hoarding of resources for the future. There could be no more serious mistake, for the first 
principle of conservation is use; but it refuses to recognize needless wa<ste and destruction as 
normal and necessary processes in the proper development and full enjoyment of natural 
wealth. 

A great change has taken place in the forests of Pennsylvania, the only state that em- 
bodies the word "forest" in its name. The early settlers of Penn's Province were confronted 
on all sides with forests. Dense and unbroken stands of big trees covered almost every 
acre of land in the valleys and on the mountains. Of the State's entire land area (28.692,480 
acres) at least 28,592,000 acres originally contained timber. The forest was then an obstacle 
to development and had to be removed to make way for settlements, agricultural crops, and 
other necessary and profitable uses of the land. The practice of forest destruction by axe, 
saw, and fire became so general among the pioneers that it was accepted as normal and neces- 
sary. 

As late as one hundred years ago there still stood in the State about twentv acres of 
forest land for each inhabitant, from which could be secured at least 500,000 board feet of fine 
lumber. Pennsylvania was so richly endowed with timber that the supply seemed inex- 
haustible to her citizens. This heritage was theirs at little or no cost and they proceeded 
to use it unsparingly and treat it carelessly. Before coal and iron were discovered, before the 
great ore beds were uncovered, and before the railroads were constructed, there began to flow 
forth from the forested hills of the Keystone State a large and continuous stream of useful 
forest products. A great lumber industry arose. Sawmills and lumber camps abounded. 
Streams were the carriers for the large volume of timber cut. In 1850 Pennsylvania stood 
second among the States of the Union in lumber production ; and in 1860 she took first place. 
The drain upon the forests increased to supply the wood needs of an enlarging population 
and wider market. The trees removed were the best ones. Those that were left were 
regarded as of no value and no care or protection was given to them. Protection of the forests 
in those days was unknown. It was thought that the future could well take care of its own 
timber needs. 

The effects of a continued policy of forest destruction without provisions for forest re- 
newal had to be felt sooner or later. About 1890 Pennsylvania's position as a lumber-pro- 
ducing state started to decline. In that year she dropped to third place in lumber production. 

24 



Her subsequent decline as a timber-producing state was rapid, because her forests were being 
eaten away without any provisions for their future. She has passed from a position of leader- 
ship to a place of dependency in the production of a vital product to her citizens. Today 
the State is twentieth among the states in lumber production; her forests yield but one-fifth 
of the lumber she consumes; former lumbering centers are deserted; and most of the timber 
she uses must be brought by rail or water at great cost from distant states and foreign lands. 
There are now left less than 25,OCO acres of original timber within the State, that is, less 
than one acre for every 360 inhabitants of the Commonwealth. 

We are proud of the prosperity that the forests of Pennsylvania brought to her industries 
and the benefits that have come from them to her people; but we must face the present 
situation squarely. Our natural resources must be regarded as wealth not merely to be 
exploited but also to be conserved. The results of forest destruction are evident on every 
hand. Where once stood matchless m.iles of the best and most useful timber found in eastern 
North America, there now remain vast stretches of unproductive waste land. Lands once 
covered with fine white pine, hemlock, and many other valuable forest trees, are now entirely 




Vast stretches of devastated forest land must be made productive. 
To permit them to remain idle is an economic crime. 



25 



devoid of valuable tree growth. Nature's forest gifts have been used up, burned up, wasted, 
and destroyed. It is high time to arrest the destructive tendencies and to restore Penn's Woods. 

No more important problem confronts the people of Pennsylvania than forest conserva- 
tion. To exist as a Nation, to prosper as a State, and to live as a citizen, we must have 
forests. Nothing comes out of the earth or grows upon its surface that surpasses wood in its 
adaptability to man's needs. We cannot have forests unless we protect and care for them. 
Forest fires must be kept out of the woods; forests must be used and treated wisely, not 
destructively; and unproductive waste lands must be made to work. We must produce not 
only more forest tree;S but better forest trees ; trees that arc free from fire scars, from worm 
holes, and from rot. Forests like human beings may be healthy and strong or sickly and 
weak. It is our social and economic duty to place our forests in order; to restore them to the 
production of useful wood; to make them attractive; and to keep them sanitary. 

Forests are not only wood producers ; from them come other of man's benefits. We need 
them for the cheer, health, shade, shelter and food they give, and for the wild life they harbor. 
There is no better place to rest and play than among the trees. Trees live to give, and 
everybody needs their gifts. They are benefactors alike to townsman and countryman. Tree- 
less lands are as cheerless as creedless lands are hopeless. 




There is no better place to play than among the trees. 
26 



A start has been made toward the up-building of Penn's Woods. The State now owns 
1,126,237 acres of forest land which is being protected and cared for by the Department 
of Forestry. These State Forests are being made productive for you and those who come 
after you. Forest protection by the State is extended to private as well as State lands by 
means of the Department's State-wide Forest Protection organization. The Federal Govern- 
ment, other public agencies, private associations and individuals are cooperating in the pro- 
tective work. The Department advises timberland owners, upon request, on the proper 
methods of caring for and cutting their timber. Forest trees are distributed free for planting. 

While some progress has been made, it is a bare beginning toward the goal of forest 
restoration. There must be a large increase in State Forests. Pennsylvania should own and 
make productive its five million acres of idle forest land good for nothing else than tree 
production. Pennsylvanians should unite in the determination to prevent forest fires. All 
timberland owners should protect and care for their timber, learning to harvest the crop 
without devastating the land. Planting should be done where nature unaided cannot produce 
the trees. State and citizen must participate in building up the forests. 




The best water supplies flow from forested hills. 
27 



Forest conservation is forest thrift — the wise use and care of the forest. It meets the 
needs of today but provides also for tomorrow. The State as the individual must be thrifty 
to secure lasting prosperity. There must be a forward-looking plan in forest production. 
Pennsylvania cannot continue as a prosperous, forward-looking State unless she protects the 
forests she has and restores forests on the vast areas of devastation. She must provide for 
the present and safeguard the future by fighting forest fires, forest waste, and forest idleness. 
Her faith in the future demands that provision be made for the timber needs of her future 
citizens. Each generation must meet its responsibilities to the future. No responsibility 
rests more clearly upon the present generation than to use thriftly the timber resources 
available to it and to restore forest production in Pennsylvania. 

The conservation of Pennsylvania's forests concerns every Pennsylvanian. Townsman 
or countryman, old or 3roung, all need the products of the forest and can play some part in 
the restoration of Penn's Woods. 




(Courtesy Pemt^lvama Department of Foreetry) 

A YOUNG FOREST. 
A natural seeding of white pine. 

28 



THE WATER POWER OF PENNSYLVANIA 

George H. Ashley 

State Geologist 

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 

The civilizations of today may be gauged by the power they consume. Primitive nations 
used little or no power except that of man or of animals. As civilization advanced, nations 
began to use the power of wind or falling water. Later came the use of the steam engine, 
burning wood, coal or other fuel Ultimately, we shall have to depend largely on power 
derived directly from the sun's heat. 

At the present time our principal source of power is derived from the burning of coal. 
In 1919 the United States used about 30 million horsepower, exclusive of water power, of 
which over 18 million horsepower was derived from coal, and the rest from oil and gas. To 
obtain this horsepower 400 million tons of coal were used. In contrast with that it is estimated 
that 55 million tons of coal would have yielded all of the power derived from falling water. 
Furthermore, it may be noted that in recent expansion in power consumption, only 10% has 
been in the direction of water power. 

Our knowledge of the water power of the State or nation is as yet very meager. It has 
been estimated that the developed water power of the country is only one-seventh of that 
readily available, or one-fourteenth of that available under conditions of maximum storage. 
It has been estimated that Pennsylvania has a little under 700,000 horespower readily obtain- 
able, but probably double that amount if all possible storage were to be used. Of this, a total 
of 173.000 horsepower has been developed. The horsepower developed in Pennsylvania 
ranges from small mills on creeks, a few of which still use water wheels, to great power plants, 
such as that on the Susquehanna River at McCalls Ferry. Here are eight water wheels with a 
total capacity of 1 18,000 horsepower and eight main generators with a total capacity of 86,000 
kilowatt'^. (A kilowatt is 1.34 horsepower). 

In general, Pennsylvania is not a favorable place for the development of water power. 
There are practically no falls of large volume and the larger streams have cut their channels 
down until the fall per mile is relatively small. Thus, the Susquehanna has a fall above 
Columbia of less than 2.5 feet per mile, and in part of the upper waters the fall is less than 
half that. Below Columbia, the fall is 5.17 feet per mile. It is in that part of the river where 
water power has been and will be developed. What is true of the main stream is largely true 
of the tributaries. 

In the second place, the valleys of Pennsylvania present few narrow places with rocky 
cliffs that would allow water power development at a moderate cost. In contrast with the 
narrow unoccupied canyons of the west, the valleys of Pennsylvania are moderately wide and 
commonly occupied by railroads and manufacturing towns. Many places, such as the "water 
gap.s." that might serve as sites for water power dams, could be ttsed only at very great 
expense : for in addition to the cost of the dam there would be the cost of elevating railroads, 
usually involving the securing of new rights-of-way, and of moving any towns that would be 
flooded by the waters above the dam. 

Conservation of the State's water powers will be along four lines: 

1. The utilization of possible power site,s for the development of power not now used. 

2. The building of storage dams in the upper valleys of the rivers for storage of water 
during the spring floods, to be let out during low water periods, and thus to equalize the flow. 

3. It is now customary to design water power plants so as to utilize only such portion of 
the power as can be depended unon for eight or nine months of the year, using a "standby" 
steam plant to help out during the extreme dry season. In this way often more than half of 
the possible available water power is not utilized. By building a steam plant that will carry 

29 




30 



all of the desired load except that to be furnished by the water-power plant duriny extreme low 
water, and then building a water plant to utilize all of the power of the stream, except during 
extreme flood periods, the water power plant becomes the "standby" plant in a sense, the 
two supplementing each other, so that all the power possible from the stream is obtained. 
By this method the power derived from any stream may be greatly increased or even multiplied 
two or three times. 

4. Ordinarily, a local water-power plant and its auxiliary steam plant form a separate 
unit. It has recently been proposed to link together all of the power plants — water and 
steam — in the eastern part of Pennsylvania and in adjoining areas, into a "superpower 
system." As a rule, power plants have to meet an uneven load, with a "peak" load during 
certain hours of the day or during certain seasons of the year, and periods of small demand 
during other hours or seasons. The "peak" loads will differ for different localities according 
to the industries served. By combining the available power from a large area the "peak" load 
at one point may be met from some distant power plant where the peak load comes at a dif- 
ferent hour or different season. In this way it is possible not only to avoid the extra equip- 
ment to meet extreme peak loads, but emergency equipment as well. Again, by the develop- 
ment of power in large units, vastly greater efficiency is obtained. Thus, a large modern 
power plant may develop four times as much horsepower from a given weight of coal as a 
small power plant. 

At the present time the largest undeveloped power sites in Pennsylvania appear to be 
on the upper Delaware River above Easton, on the lower Susquehanna below Ferry, and on 
the Clarion River. 




Dam and Power Plant of Pennsylvania Water and Power Co. McCal'.s Ferry, Pa. 

31 



MINERAL RESOURCES OF PENNSYLVANIA 

Fred Crabtree 

Dean of School of Mines 

Carnegie Institute of Technology 

Pennsylvania is a State that is notable for man)- things, among which may be mentioned 
its scenic beauty, its fine agricultural development, its educational institutions, its great in- 
dustries and millions of skilled workers, and, a--^ a basis for its industries, vast mineral 
resources. The products of its mines and mills are distributed throughout the whole world, 
serving mankind everywhere and bringing great wealth to the State. To know Pennsyl- 
vania, then, and her relations to the rest of the United States, it is necessary tc know some- 
thing of her mineral resources and mineral products. 

The early colonists who came to America from England, France, and Holland lived in 
a very simple way. They worked long hours, and did not, as a rule, tra^■el far from home. 
Most of them were farmers; nearly all of their simple needs were supplied from the animal 
and plant life of their own immediate neighborhood, and mineral products were of small 
account to them, outside of the few iron tools they used. Even with the greatly increased 
numbers that built the towns and cities of the Revolutionary Period the needs, and methods 
of living, though more varied, were quite simple, and luxuries so common now were unob- 
tainable because they were the product of, or depended on, mineral industries. 

About the time of the Revolutionary War, and during a few succeeding years, certain 
events took place that led to a complete change in the methods of working and of living of a 
great portion of the people in both Europe and America^ — a change vasth^ greater and more 
important than the political change brought about by the separation from England. When 




(Courtesy Pennsylvania GecJ'jnical Surrey) 
Pennsylvania mines one-fourth of the limestone of the Country. 



32 








{Crurtcitfj Prn/i^^ithinua Gfoloffwal Surfeit) 

An iron ore mine in the mountains of Pennsylvania. 

Henry Cort invented his methods for making wrought iron and rolling it into shaped bars, 
James Watt perfected his steam engine mechanism, Hargreaves Arkwright and Cromplin 
their spinning machine, Cartwright his power loom for weaving cloth, Eli Whitney his cotton 
gin, Robert Fulton his steam boat, and George Stevenson his locomotive, they made possible 
and started, the modern industries that have given emploj^ment and wealth to hundreds of 
millions of people, have greatly favored the growth of large cities, and have placed within 
the reach of the ordinary workingman conveniences and luxuries that were be}"ond the reach 
of George Washington, and the other wealthy men of his time, or even of the richest and most 
powerful kings and emperors of other nations of that, or earlier times. 

These industries are all based on the use of minerals — on power generated from coal or oil, 
on machinery made of iron or other metals, and on innumerable ways of utilizing other 
mineral products in addition to the vegetable and animal products used by our forefathers. 
Fuel — which usually means coal — is the real basis of our industrial life and progress. Inex- 
perienced men are apt to think of gold and silver mines, or diamond mines and copper mines, 
as the mineral sources of great wealth; as a matter of fact, these are of vastly less industrial 
importance and value than coal mines, limestone quarries, clay beds, and iron ore. 

Dr. George H. Ashley recently told* in an interesting waj^ of many kinds of minerals that 
are mined in Pennsylvania. The following excerpt is worth quoting: 

"Pennsylvania is rich in that she has both the natural resources and the will to work, in 
very large measure. It is not that her resources are so much greater than those of her sister 
states but that the knowledge of her resources through public and private surveys ha^T been 
coupled with a restless energy, an untiring ambition, and an unconquerable desire for achieve- 
ment. 



^Proceedings of the Engineers Society of Western Pennsylvania, February, 1921. 



33 



"This explains why, with less than four per cent of the coal in the country, she annually 
mines 46 per cent of the country's needs, and in days gone by met two-thirds of the country's 
need. With no better limestone than many of her neighbors, she annually mines one fourth 
of the limestone of the country, and produces one fourth of the Portland cement of the 
country. She mines one seventh of the sand and gravel used, and one third of the glass sand. 
She makes 60 per cent of all the metallic paint, 84 per cent of all the paint from slate and 
shale, and quarries more than one tenth of all the stone quarried — and so on, down the list."- — 

The following figures and information are also taken from Dr. Ashley's address. 

Coal, of course, heads the list in order of tonnage and commercial value. Each year more 
than 200,000,000 tons are mined ; and it is estimated that anthracite coal may continue to be 
mined for one hundred years, while the known suppl}^ of bituminous coal would yield 150,000,- 
COO tons a year for about five hundred years. 

Petroleum and natural gas, found in the western part of the State, have also been of in- 
calculable value to its industries and its people ; but unfortunateh^ only a small supplj^ of each 
remains. 

Limestone is used in enormous quantities, for different purposes. It furnishes the chief 
part of Portland cement, of which about $30,000,000 worth is made annually in the State. 
Limestone is indispensable in the making of pig iron and steel, it is used in road making, 
as ballast for railroad tracks, in concrete and mortar for foundations and walls, and as lime 
or pulverized limestone on farms to increase the yield of crops. The burnt lime alone — one 
fourth to one third of all that is produced in the L^nited States — has a value of $6,000,000 or 
more each year. 

Clay is another mineral very widely and extensively used. A single year's production of 
building brick was valued at $6,500,000, and of fire clay brick at $24,000,000. Fire-proof tile, 
terracotta pipe, electrical conduits, and china are among the other clay products that bring the 
jrearly value up to about $50,000,000. Shale and slate, minerals closely allied chemically and 
geologically, are also mined in considerable quantities, and for varied uses. 

Sandstone, sand, ganister, and quartzite are all forms of silica, varying principally in the 
degree or manner of cementing the grains together. They are used in building, in iron and 
steel foundries, and in lining steel-making furnaces, in making glass, and in grinding and 
polishing plate glass — all very important industries in the State. 

Among the other minerals mined in smaller quantities are magnetite iron ore, which also 
contains a little copper and has been worked for nearly two hundred years; graphite; 
feldspar, used in making enamelled wares; kaolin, marble, mica, chromite, soapstone, pyrites 
and talc. Some of these, and a number of others, are produced in very small amounts ; one 
government publication listed 37 minerals as being produced in Pennsylvania during 1916. 
Salt, nickel, and bromine were formerly produced here, but are now obtained more cheaply 
in other place'?. 

Gold and silver do occur, but in such small amounts as to be unprofitable; and gem stones are 
occasionally found, but too rarely to justify any mining operation. But these are much less 
desirable commercially than the less romantic minerals on which our industries and wealth have 
been based. 



34 



THE CONSERVATION OF PENNSYLVANIA SOILS 
R. L. Watts 

Dean of the College of Agriculture 
The Pennsylvania State College 

The conservation of our soils is of vital importance to the people of Pennsylvania. We look 
to the land for all our food and raw materials for manufactured articles, and though our 
people are v^^ell supplied at present, the problem which should concern each one of us is, will 
the land produce adequately for the increased millions of people who may be living in Penn- 
sylvania 100 years or more from now. We have no right to abuse or neglect the land when 
the welfare of all future generations is dependent upon its careful and intelligent manage- 
ment. Lands may waste and become practically useless, as have millions of acres in China, 
and we must avoid any such calamity in the great Keystone State. It is well for us to 
remember that the earth is God created. A prominent educator has written a book* on 
"The Holy Earth." 



-JbiL flAP OF PcNN5YLSANiA 
- ConpiLBD feon The IcfccofiKoissAKCE ^3aL Surveys or PEMN5rL\*\NiA- 




Soil map showing the different soils found in the State. 
*L. H. Bailey: The Holy Earth. 

35 



Pennsylvania is a large state of 28,821,120 acres of land. Of this great area, however, only 
61% is in farm land. This leaves 11,000,000 acres that are mountainous, stony or hilly and 
are not satisfactory for farming purposes. 

Forty-seven different kinds of soil have been found and mapped in the State. These dif- 
ferent soils are divided into what is called soil series and are named for some town or natural 
feature near which they were first found. As an example, Westmoreland, Warren and Mont- 
alto soils take their names from the location in which they were first found. This soil series 
is again divided into soil types. The term type is used to describe the texture of the soil. 
As an example, Westmoreland is the name of a soil series and Westmoreland silt loam is a 
type name. Many of these soils vary from a heavy clay to a sandy loam, so we must have 
type names to describe the texture of the soils, such as clay, clay loam, sandy loam, etc. 

Seventy-four per cent of the soils of the State are known as residual soils, that is, they are 
found where they were originally formed from the rocks and have not been moved by the 
action of streams or other agencies. Twenty-two per cent of the soils are glacial, formed and 
carried by the action of great masses of moving ice sheets which covered northern Pennsyl- 




A typical area of DeKalb mountain land where erosion is severe. 
Such land should be reforested. 



36 



vania man}' centuries ago. The remaining four per cent of the soils is what is known as 
alluvial and lacustrine. Alluvial soils are those that have been carried and deposited by 
streams, while lacustrine soils are transported and deposited in the bottom of lakes. 

Reference has been made to the millions of acres of waste land in China caused by erosion. 
When vegetation is burned or removed from the land year after year, the supply of soil organic 
matter soon becomes practically exhausted and the hea^■y rains are certain to wash deep 
gulleys, thus making the land of little value for agricultural purposes. The sound policy of 
good farmers is to keep the land covered with a growing crop from early spring until late 
fall, which prevents washing and erosion and also conserves available plant food in the soil. 

The proper use of a soil is favorable to its conservation. The growing of big crops under 
good farming conditions will not reduce the future productiveness of a soil. On the other 
hand, bad management of land is certain to lower future yields. The depletion of plant food 
and soil organic matter invariably leads to lighter crops. Almost every community has 
striking demonstrations of this fact. 

The most extensive soil area in the State is known as the Dekalb, formed from sandstone 
and shale. It is found in twenty-three counties, from Monroe to Butler, on narrow ridges 
and along ridged valleys. Throughout the Dekalb area, the land is hilly to mountainous and 




'•*'"■ ^^"^ 




A view of the Snow Shoe experiment fields on DeKalb soil showing 
the increased yields of wheat as the result of fertilizer treatment. 



37 



is normally not very productive, but responds well to scientific treatment. On the experi- 
mental plots of The Pennsylvania State College, it has been found that Dekalb soil of a very 
low type is capable of high development when properly managed. For example, corn yields 
have been increased from less than five bvishels per acre to fifty-two bushels, and oat yields as 
high as seventy-two bushels per acre have been obtained on this soil, which contitutes forty- 
three per cent of the State's area. 

Volusia soil ranks next to Dekalb in area, extending through the northern tier counties and 
including 19.4 per cent of the state's oil area. On this soil a great dairy industry has developed, 
famous for its herds of pure bred cattle. The area is occupied by beautiful rounded hills, 
flanked by steep sided valleys and, in the northwest, rolling plateaus with steep slopes to 
the streams below. Dotted here and there among the hills may be 5een large numbers of 
creameries, cheese factories, and condensories, which handle the enormous quantities of dairy 
products produced in this picturesque country. 




Showing the increased yield of pasture grasses on Volusia soil as the 
result of fertilizer and manure treatment. 



38 



Ihc success of the dairy industry is largely dependent upon the summer pastures, and al- 
though the land is well adapted to grasses, improper methods of farming have brought about 
soil depletion until the grass lands no longer furnish sufficient forage and the farmers arc 
forced to supplement the cattle feed with expensive mill products. As a result of continuous 
cropping without the return of plant food to the soil, the green succulent grasses which once 
thrived on this soil have been replaced by native weeds. Many of these hillside pastures, 
robbed of their covering of natural grasses, are exposed to excessive erosion, which, in too many 
cases, leaves the land in a condition beyond repair. 

The soil fertility experiments conducted by our State College Experiment Station on 
typical areas of this land have demonstrated beyond question that these depleted pastures are 
capable of quick rejuvenation through the liberal use of lime, manure, and acid phosphate, or 
lime and mineral fertilizers. 




A view of America's oldest soil fertility experiments established at 
State College on Hagerstown soil in 1381 



Westmoreland soils are found in the extreme southwestern part of the State and include 8.5 
per cent of our total soil area. This soil occupies a topography similar to Volusia and comes 
within the Kentucky blue grass belt. This section of the State was at one time famed for 
its excellent blue grass pastures, which, however, in recent years have become depleted until 
at the present time large acres of soil that formerly were used for pasture have been either 
abandoned or devoted to the growth of inferior hay. Experiments similar to those conducted 
on the Volusia and Dekalb soils have shown that this soil responds quickly to manurial treat- 
ment and is capable of rapid rejuvenation. 

The most fertile farm land in the State where agriculture is found highly developed is 
located on Hagerstown soil of Umestone origin. This soil is found only in the limestone valleys 
and represents 4.3 per cent of the soil area of the State. Throughout these beautiful limestone 
valleys, stretching in broken areas from Northampton southwest to Bedford, are found farms 
that are unequalled in the east. On this soil settled the thrifty Dutch, the people who have 
made Lancaster County the garden spot of the country. 

The oldest soil fertility experiments in America are located on this soil at State College. 
These famous experiment fields have just completed their fortieth consecutive year and have 
become the source of information which has played a large part in the upbuilding and main- 
tenance of soil fertility on this, the State's most noted soil area. 

The heavy annual drain on the fertility of our soils through the loss of plant food removed 
in crops may be illustrated by the following significant facts: To replace the nitrogen, 
phosphorus, and potash removed by the annual crop of wheat grain grown on 1,424,951 acres 
of the soils of our State would require an annual application of the equivalent of 100,000 
tons of nitrate of soda or 3,000,000 tons of manure, 49,031 tons of acid phosphate, and 7,174 
tons of muriate of potash. To return to the land of the State the plant food annually sold 
from the farms in the milk supply would require in round numbers the application of the 
equivalent of 42,000 tons of nitrate soda, 14,000 tons of acid phosphate, and 3,500 tons of 
muriate of potash. In other words, these two farm products remove annually from the farms 
of the State 47,000,000 pounds of nitrogen, 7,000,000 pounds of phosphorus, and 9,000,000 
pounds of potassium. 

Such heavy drains on the soil, however fertile, will lead to the depletion of the land unless 
ample provisions are made to replace the plant food thus removed. It is much more econo- 
mical to keep up the fertility of the soil by the frequent addition of plant food in whatever form 
applied than to allow the land to become depleted and be compelled to resort to heroic 
measures in an attempt to restore to the land its original crop producing power. 

Pennsylvania has been peculiarly blessed by Nature in the provision of her many fertile 
soils stretching across the great Commonwealth and affording an opportunity for almost any 
phase of agricultural practice. "To use the soil and not abuse it" should be the motto ot 
every farmer. Successful farming is the joint work of theory and practice and there should 
be no conflict between the two. The Agricultural Experiment Station, the chosen guardian 
of the soil, has pledged itself to continue unabated all lines of research that may lead eventu- 
ally to the complete rejuvenation of the soils of the State through the adoption of more 
scientific practice. 



40 



CHARLES A. BABCOCK 

Charles A. Babcock, the originator of the idea of National Bird Day, died at his home in 
Oil City, Pennsylvania, August 9, 1922. Mr. Babcock gave to the world a record of unusual 
service. He was born at Petersburg, New York, December 16, 1847. He was graduated 
from Hamilton College, and later taught for nine years in the Normal School at Fredonia. 
His education in the classics was supplemented with training in chemistry and in law and 
he practised in the courts of New York State as a chemical expert prior to beginning his 
educational work. After a time he decided to give his attention to public school work and 
was elected Superintendent of Schools in Oil Citv, Pennsylvania, which position he held 
from 1S8.^ to 1908. 




CHARLES A. BABCOCK 
The Founder of National Bird Day 
1 December 16, 1847; Died August 9. 1^22 

■ 41 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



002 816 818 4 ^ 
SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR OBSERVING ARBOR Day awu tSLKU DAY. 

This number of the Arbor Day Manual emphasizes in every article the conservation of 
natural resources, those gifts we have enjoyed in such abundance in past years, but which 
we now realize cannot last forever unless we use them most carefully. 

The statutes provide in Section 4001 of the School Code, "That those days set apart by 
the Governor as Arbor Days shall also be known as 'Bird Days' in Pennsylvania and it 
shall be the duty of every teacher in the public schools * * * * to devote, together with 
the pupils, at least two hours of such school day to the study of wild birds * * * *^ and the 
best methods through which the conservation and increase of useful birds may be secured ; 
and it shall be the duty of all school superintendents within this Commonwealth, either 
county, city or otherwise, to see to it that the requirements of this act are complied with.'' 

Let us make this the banner year by observing Arbor Day, Bird Day, and Roosevelt Day 
in one hundred percent of the schools in Pennsylvania, October 27th. Superintendents and 
supervising principals may render a helpful service at this time by cooperating with cla-'t'. 
room teachers in planning suitable programs. 

A few suggestions are submitted for the guidance of teachers in preparing for the nt.-rr- 
vance of this day : 

A. Preliminary Suggestions. 

1. Consult again pages fifty-four to fifty-eight of the Arbor Day Manual of April I -I. 

1922, and pages twenty-one to twenty-three of the Arbor Day Manual of October 
28, 1921, for numerous helpful suggestions on exhibits, reports by children. poem>. 
plays, and music. 

2. In honoring the memory of Theodore Roosevelt refer again to the Arbor Day Manual 

of October 27, 1920, using it as source of information for talks and readings. 

3. Use the various articles in the present manual as the basis of talks and readings by 

the pupils. Let them discuss and become acquainted with these articles before 
presentation in the formal program. 

4. In honoring the memory of Charles A. Babcock, refer again to the Arbor Day manual 

of April 14, 1922, page eleven, for a story of "The Origin of National Bird Day." 

5. As a means of giving permanent effect to the lessons of Bird Day, form a Junior 

Audubon Club in your school. The following by-laws are suggested by the Audubon 

Society : 

Article I. This organization shall be known as the " _ - _ 

Junior Audubon Club". 
Article II. The object of its members shall be to learn all they can about wiM 

birds, and to try to save any from being wantonly killed. 
Article III. The officers shall consist of a President, a Secretary, and a Treasurer. 
Article IV. The annual fees of the club shall be ten cents for each member; and 

the money shall be sent to the National Association of Audubon Societies in 

exchange for educational leaflets and Audubon buttons. 
Article V. The Junior Audubon Club shall have at least one meeting every month 
Write to Mr. T. Gilbert Pierson, President of the National Association of Audubun 

Societies, 1974 Broadway, New York City, for information as to club activities. 

6. Save this manual. It should be retained as the permanent property of the school 

for use in future years. 

42 



